Size isn’t everything. The Jermyn Street Theatre is beneath an Italian restaurant, in what was the waiters’ changing room. This is glossed over in their programmes. They prefer their 1930s heritage as a night club called Monseigneur.
The theatre opened in 1994 but it was not until 1998 that I went. The show was directed by Nickolas Grace ( he was Anthony Blanche in the TV Brideshead Revisited) and starred (Baroness) Issy van Randwyck. It was a femme-noir-comedy-musical called The Betrayal of Nora Blake and I’m voting for a revival on its 20th anniversary. It is a black and white B movie spoof, high camp and very funny. I went eight times twenty years ago.
In another twenty years I will vote for a revival of Nöel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30. I have seen six of the cycle of nine one-act plays and will notch up the last three soon. Nöel wrote them as a vehicle to show off with Gertrude Lawrence, demonstrating their virtuosity and range taking on nine roles. This is what the cast of the current revival, the first since 1936, do dazzlingly. They are indefatigable performing all nine plays on Saturday and then doing it all over again on Sunday. They do take Monday and Tuesday off.
A word about logistics, The theatre has 75 seats and a small stage so there’s not much room back stage. That’s where the audience go to use the loo, where the cast change and the sets are stored. It is no mean feat by the production crew to cram in nine sets and changes of costume, in fact it must be a Tardis back there. To digress, it has been known for a member of the audience to overstay on a loo visit and emerge on the set sheepishly in the middle of Act II.
You are so right that this needs a revival. I remember it well and thought of it only recently when working on the current revival of Ruthless at the Arts Theatre. That is also high camp, has glorious frocks but instead stars a murderous child! The Jermyn St show was designed by my good friend Christopher Woods and lit by another good friend Nick Richings, both starting out on successful careers. Oddly we are about to meet again as we all share the same agent Bronia Buchanan, I’m sure to mention Nora Blake and see if we can get a Producer to think of a revival!